Senior Cheshire East Council staff resign (From Crewe Guardian)

Senior Cheshire East Council staff resign

9:25am Wednesday 19th December 2012 in News By Matthew Taylor

TWO senior staff members who are believed to have been investigated following the Lyme Green waste plant fiasco have resigned from Cheshire East Council (CEC).

John Nicholson, strategic director of places, and Caroline Elwood, the authority’s solicitor, stepped down on Friday, December 14.

Council leader, Michael Jones, said: “I have asked the chief executive to put interim management arrangements in place quickly, to avoid any disruption to our services, following the recent resignations of two of our senior staff.

“John Nicholson, our strategic director for places and organisational capacity, and Caroline Elwood, borough solicitor and monitoring officer, have left their employment with Cheshire East Council.

“As I have said recently, after Christmas the chief executive and I will bring forward proposals for less opaque, more accountable, more effective and less-costly management structures.”

A spokesman for CEC refused to comment on whether the resignations were linked to Lyme Green.

An internal investigation by CEC found more than £800,000 of tax payers’ money had been wasted starting groundwork on a recycling plant in Macclesfield without first obtaining planning permission.

CEC appointed a Designated Independent Person (DIP) to assess what mistakes were made, and by whom, regarding Lyme Green.

A confidential report into Lyme Green has been passed by the DIP to CEC’s staffing sub-committee, who are due to meet before Christmas to consider what actions to take in light of its findings.